QUEZON City, Philippines – The University of the Philippines caused quite a stir among some netizens and some in the UP community only recently. The powerful policy-making Board of Regents offered to confer an honorary degree – Doctorate of Law, honoris causa, to be exact – to President Rodrigo Duterte, citing tradition as the main reason. But the offer did not suit well with the protesters, who said the President, who has been criticized for his supposedly inhumane war against drugs, did not deserve such honor. President Duterte has declined the offer of the honorary degree, saying that it has always been his policy ever since becoming Davao mayor to decline awards, honors and the like.
President Duterte is not alone in declining such offer. Other Presidents had chosen not to accept the honorary degree. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Joseph Ejercito-Estrada, for instance.
But what is this honorary degree that has everyone so heated up?
According to Wikipedia, an honorary degree, also known as degree honoris causa (Latin for “for the sake of honor”) or degree ad honorem (to the honor) is an academic degree for which an academic or other degree-awarding institution has waived the usual requirements such as matriculation, residence, a dissertation and the passing of comprehensive examinations.
Typically, the degree is a doctorate and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the institution.
The practice is not a recent one. In fact, it dates back from the Middle Ages. The earliest honorary degree on record is the one received by a certain Lionel Woodville in the late 1470s from the University of Oxford.
Such degrees are usually awarded during regular graduation ceremonies, where the recipient is often invited to make a speech of acceptance before the assembled faculty and graduates – often the highlight of the ceremony.
So what do you do if you receive an honorary degree? What does such degree entail?
The customary practice is to add such title after your name— “honorary,” “honoris causa,” or even “h.c.” in parenthesis. Most recipients don’t use the title “doctor,” but when attending events and ceremonies of the institution that awarded them the honorary degree, they are typically addressed as such.
When making one’s curriculum vitae, it is proper for a person to include the honoris causa degree he received in the awards section, and not in the educational attainment section.
(written by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Vince Alvin Villarin)
